The Best iPad Models to Buy in 2025

We’ve tested a fistful of Apple’s tablets implicit the years and person a consciousness of what sets each apart. You tin get precocious displays and almighty M-series chipsets successful Apple’s latest iPad Pro models. For portability, Apple has packed rather a batch into its iPad Mini, capable to marque it practically a larger iPhone astatine a terms that’s amazingly little than its telephone counterparts. And erstwhile your needs are simple, similar for an e-reader replacement, Apple’s basal iPads inactive supply awesome show and heaps of value.

Of course, Apple’s not the lone tablet shaper connected the market, and if you’re not locked into Apple’s ecosystem, you whitethorn privation to look astatine immoderate alternatives which whitethorn beryllium capable to springiness you immoderate prime upgrades for a amended price. Alternatively, if you're dead-set connected an iPad, you should look into immoderate large iPad accessories, similar a keyboard, to marque the astir of it.

Apple does a large occupation making its base-level iPad an exceptional enactment for astir users, and that’s what makes the 10th Gen iPad specified an perfect prime for conscionable astir anyone buying for an iPad. For one, its terms is overmuch much approachable than astir different iPad options, similar the Pro models that tin soar past $1,000 for tons of bells and whistles.

The 10th Gen iPad whitethorn not person the astir precocious display, but you’re inactive getting a 10.9-inch Liquid Retina display. With a 2360x1640 solution crossed that panel, the visuals are plentifulness sharp. It whitethorn not get the 120Hz refresh complaint of higher-tier models, but higher refresh rates are thing you truly won’t cognize you’re missing until you spot it. You tin besides usage the 1st procreation Apple Pencil with this iPad model, truthful you’ve inactive got options for originative outlets.

The 10th Gen exemplary got a refreshed plan from the anterior version, shaving disconnected a spot of thickness and a fewer grams of weight, and updates to the bezels marque for a much modern look with adjacent borders each astir the display. Perhaps a bigger displacement is the front-facing camera placement, which goes to the apical successful scenery (as opposed to portrait) orientation. Combined with Center Stage, the camera efficaciously tracks you during calls, truthful you tin rotation astir portion being decently framed successful video calls and recordings.

Under the hood, the 10th Gen iPad comes packing an A14 Bionic spot with 4GB of memory. It’s a tiny but inactive important upgrade implicit the 9th Gen exemplary for those who privation much show and longevity retired of their hardware. The tablet besides charges implicit USB-C alternatively than the dated Lightning connector. With USB-C gaining dominance for devices, this provides a spot much future-proofing for the tablet.

We yet got an update to this iPad, and it's disposable now: The 11th-generation iPad offers an A16 processor and treble the starting retention of erstwhile iPad models.

Looking for the wide champion fund tablet available? Although it was released successful 2021, iPad (9th Generation) is our fund prime acknowledgment to its precise coagulated performance, crisp and wide 10.2-inch Retina (backlit) display, and debased starting terms nether $300. In fact, you tin find it for overmuch cheaper due to the fact that it’s often connected merchantability astatine Amazon (sometimes it’s arsenic debased arsenic $250 during Prime Day oregon Black Friday).

This iPad is presently moving the latest mentation of iPadOS to optimize show and speed, adjacent though its processor is simply a fewer years old. While it doesn’t person the aforesaid bells and whistles arsenic the iPad Air, iPad Mini, oregon iPad Pro similar a faster processor, thinner bezels, oregon a much modern design, it’s inactive an iPad that gets the aforesaid entree to the aforesaid apps arsenic immoderate different Apple tablet. Some of the much intensive ones conscionable won't enactment arsenic well.

If you’re lone readying connected utilizing it for consuming media, catching up connected the news, playing basal iOS games, oregon speechmaking e-books, the 9th Gen iPad volition get the occupation done astatine an affordable price. It besides makes for a large iPad for kids since it’s truthful inexpensive. Just wrapper a durable iPad lawsuit astir it to debar damage.

The iPad Pro has ever been a beauteous portion of tech, but Apple took the tried-and-true plan and thinned it down, making it the thinnest iPad ever, beating adjacent the iPad Air. Even though the chassis got immoderate thickness chopped disconnected from it, Apple stuffed it with the Apple M4 chip, making it much almighty than the astir caller MacBook Air. This makes an already large iPad for originative professionals adjacent better.

The 7th Generation iPad Pro besides introduces a caller OLED display, different archetypal for an iPad, and it is perfectly gorgeous. When we reviewed this 7th Gen iPad Pro, Jacqueline Thomas noted however it rapidly became her favourite instrumentality to ticker oregon work thing on. Colors are agleam and opposition nicely with darker elements of immoderate scene, adding vibrancy to beauteous overmuch thing displayed connected the tablet.

The M4 makes definite the beauteous show is enactment to bully use, too. With the 8-core GPU, the iPad Pro makes casual enactment of immoderate crippled tally natively connected the device, and we could spot this becoming the de-facto gaming tablet (at slightest if you're not counting the champion handheld gaming PCs). The processor besides makes it excel astatine the originative workloads the tablet is designed for. With the caller Apple Pencil Pro, which you will person to wage other for, the almighty hardware and gorgeous show harvester to marque this an fantabulous prime for artists and photograph editors that request a interaction surface to get their occupation done.

If you privation this to go your default workstation, though, you're going to person to fork implicit a ton of currency to marque it happen. For the authoritative model, the Magic Keyboard costs astir $300 connected its own, and the Apple Pencil is going to adhd an other $129, too. There are Apple Pencil alternatives, and you tin brace it with fundamentally immoderate keyboard, but it's thing to beryllium alert of going in.

Read the review: Apple iPad Pro (7th Generation)

When the champion iPhones are conscionable a small excessively tiny and the different 10-inch oregon larger iPads are much surface existent property than needed, the iPad Mini is the cleanable in-between enactment for reading. With a stunning 8.3-inch Liquid Retina show and 10.4oz heft, this iPad’s compact plan makes for a large enactment that’s casual to tuck distant successful a container oregon adjacent a overgarment pouch connected the go.

Readers volition gravitate towards this tiny tablet since it tin beryllium comfortably held with 1 hand, and the Apple App Store is chock afloat of speechmaking apps, specified arsenic Apple Books, Amazon Kindle, comiXology, Libby, Scribd, and more. It’s 1 of IGN’s favourite speechmaking tablets for a reason. Compatibility with the Apple Pencil Pro and Apple Pencil (USB-C) adjacent marque the iPad Mini a viable enactment for notetaking oregon sketching too.

Like astir iPads, the Mini’s high-quality physique leaves galore of the champion Android tablets astatine a akin terms successful the dust. For nether $500, the sturdy recycled aluminum assemblage looks large and holds up good against deterioration and tear. Its plan remains beauteous overmuch unchanged from erstwhile generations, truthful it’s 1 of the fewer iPads that inactive offers Touch ID.

Under the hood, the 7th Generation Mini exemplary got a large boost successful performance. Although the Mini’s A17 Pro processor, the aforesaid silicon recovered successful the iPhone 15 Pro, can’t vie with the M4 and M3 chips recovered successful the Air and Pro models, it is inactive plentifulness zippy for the compact device. Stuff similar watching YouTube oregon scrolling TikTok volition beryllium breezy. Gaming is adjacent viable, and the Mini is compatible with immoderate of the champion telephone controllers for added convenience.

Samsung isn’t the lone marque making large Android tablets. The OnePlus Pad 2 launched with rather a smash. It whitethorn not get overmuch mainstream attention, but it perfectly deserves it. It started astatine $549 but has since seen discounts to $449, and that’s a coagulated woody for a tablet doing arsenic overmuch arsenic this.

The OnePlus Pad 2 is fundamentally the iPad Pro of the Android tablet market. It features a 12.1-inch show that’s rather something. It’s an IPS panel, but it offers 10-bit colour depth, HDR10+, Dolby Vision, and a 900-nit highest brightness. It besides runs astatine a buttery 144Hz refresh rate, making it each the smoother portion gaming, scrolling web pages, oregon inking up your artwork with the optional stylus. The tablet supports the OnePlus Stylo 2, which is pressure-sensitive, has haptic feedback, and tin complaint implicit a magnetic transportation to the tablet. The show is besides surrounded by not two, not four, but six speakers for awesome spatial audio.

Inside, the OnePlus Pad 2 is powered by the aforesaid Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 spot that powered galore of 2024’s flagship Android smartphones, and that gives it plentifulness of foodstuff to tally the latest apps and games. With a default of 8GB of representation and 128GB of storage, it’s besides got plentifulness of country for large games and aggregate apps moving astatine the aforesaid time.

In our investigating of the OnePlus Pad 2, we besides recovered that it had unthinkable artillery life. It has a 9,510mAh artillery tucked distant inside, and that proved up to the task of providing astir 12 hours of dense usage – plentifulness for agelong flights. When it comes to charge, it supports 80W charging – faster than a batch of laptops – to foodstuff backmost up wholly successful a small implicit an hour.

OnePlus doesn’t program connected leaving this tablet down immoderate clip soon either. It launched with Android 14, and the institution promised 3 years of OS updates and 4 years of information updates.

Read the afloat review: OnePlus Pad 2

Originally posted:

Mar 24, 2025 9:35 pm